8540 Hello from the Apuan Alps

Hello everyone,

I just joined the forum today and thought I might announce my existence. I'm an English physicist who spends four months a year in a disused monastery in Vallico Sotto (on the Garfagnana side of the Apuan Alps) with my wife Sam who is a bronze sculptor. We try to run science conferences and art events 'with a difference' whilst offering a place for fun and interesting people to spend time and relax. Our web site can be found [URL="http://www.vallico.net/tti/tti.html"]here.[/URL]

I occasionally publish local interest/adventure/history stories in my '[URL="http://www.barganews.com/blogs/towler"]News from the Towler Institute[/URL]' blog on the [URL="http://www.barganews.com"]Barga News[/URL] website. Just to give you a taste of what I like to write about, here is the full collection of (largely true) stories in order of publication:[LIST]
[*][URL="http://barganews.com/blogs/towler/2007/03/19/first-post/"]First Post[/URL] (March 2007)
[*][URL="http://barganews.com/blogs/towler/2007/08/09/the-palace-of-ismeno/"]The Palace of Ismeno[/URL] (August 2007)
[*][URL="http://barganews.com/blogs/towler/2007/12/14/bronze-hermaphrodites-and-the-fat-boy-filter/"]Bronze Hermaphrodites and the Fat Boy Filter[/URL] (December 2007)[/LIST]Well, there you go.

I've enjoyed reading these forums since I discovered them last week, and I hope to make some contributions myself in the future.

Happy New Year to all!
Mike

Category
Introduce Yourself - Piacere Conoscerti

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 01/07/2008 - 16:41

Hello Mike. I certainly hope you do contribute - lots - the Bronze Hermaphrodites and the Fat Boy Filter deserves a GOLD!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 01/07/2008 - 19:01

congrat's on the most intriguing intro post since I've been here! I had a quick potter around your website & I love the concept. Couple of questions though:

are your events just (I say 'just' but you know what I mean) hosted by yourselves on behalf of 3rd parties or are you actively involved in developing and presenting them too?

Do you ever attempt a science/art crossover at all? I'd love to see the rocket scientists confronted by oil & canvas and a tuscan landscape ...

looking forward to your input.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 03:31

Hi, Mike! Welcome and thank you so much for those most interesting links. Please keep us informed regarding the events you organise. My husband and I know very well your area, actually, at a certain stage we were considering buying a property near Arni. A disused monastery sounds fabulous. We now own an old disused watermill in Bagni di Lucca. We do hope hearing a lot from you.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 08:17

[quote=pigro;80126]
are your events just (I say 'just' but you know what I mean) hosted by yourselves on behalf of 3rd parties or are you actively involved in developing and presenting them too?

Do you ever attempt a science/art crossover at all? I'd love to see the rocket scientists confronted by oil & canvas and a tuscan landscape ...
[/quote]

Hi Pigro,

Thanks for the nice comments. To answer your questions, most of the events we've held at the monastery up to now have been imagined, organized and run by me. This year we're finally getting people organizing their own independent events, but I still have a lot to do with organizing enterntainment, excursions, and restaurants etc.

The kind of event I prefer is when the serious business of the day (lectures, talks etc.) is limited to the mornings, then in the afternoons we take people off hiking in the mountains or caving or canyoning or wandering around local towns, with everyone meeting up at the evening for some good local food. This kind of structure tends to give everyone space to think, relax and discuss things (I don't if you've ever been to a regular academic conference but they tend to be 8am till 7pm full-on talks so everyone just gets tired and stressed).

I'd love to do science/art crossovers but a lot of the quantum physics guys I invite would get confused ('What is this so-called paint brush? Does not compute.' etc.). Let's see what we can do this summer..

Thanks for your interest!

Best wishes,
Mike

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 08:57

[quote=towler;80158]I don't if you've ever been to a regular academic conference but they tend to be 8am till 7pm full-on talks so everyone just gets tired and stressed.[/quote]

Alas, no. academia and I parted company at graduation when I left Uni in search of filthy lucre - though the prospect of outdoor pursuits & good Italian food served in situ would strongly tempt me to return ... if only I had the smarts :-(

[quote=towler;80158]I'd love to do science/art crossovers but a lot of the quantum physics guys I invite would get confused ('What is this so-called paint brush? Does not compute.' etc.). Let's see what we can do this summer..[/quote]

just tell them any confusion they may experience is all Heizenberg's fault and they therefore only have themselves to blame until they can unify everything :-)